The Unknown Enemy
by Negolith
Summary: Sheppard has lost his team and is being stalked through the forest by an unkown enemy.


_A/N: This is purely wish fulfillment on my part and a nod to liketheriver and koschka. And yes, I can walk that quietly through the woods. :)_

**The Unknown Enemy**

I slammed up against the tree hard enough to send flakes of bark down the back of my neck. I _knew_ I saw movement in the brush off to my left. Question was, did they see me? I cautiously peered around the trunk of my current cover, weapon ready. Nothing. I leaned back against the rough bark and wiped sweat from my forehead before I keyed my earpiece. "Lorne," I whispered. "I'm being flanked. Get up here, pronto." The radio remained silent. "Lorne?" Still nothing. _Shit__. First Teyla, now Lorne. Great, just great_ "Ronon, our six has been compromised. Fall back to my position."

"I'm a hundred yards from the target," Ronon's voice rumbled back. "I can take it."

"Fall back. That's an order," I hissed through my teeth.

There was only a moment's hesitation before he growled, "On my way."

I quickly glanced around the tree again, then took off in a crouch. I dove and rolled behind a fallen tree for cover. Man, this whole situation was starting to stink like the after effects of last night's Cajun Spam Surprise. I lifted my head enough to peer over the log. A drop of sweat fell from my hair and ran down my shooting glasses, but I didn't dare wipe it away. For a good two minutes I watched the forest for any movement. It was unusually noisy with bird song and wind in the upper canopy today, so I couldn't track my foe by sound. Nothing moved, but I just _knew_ someone was out there. I dropped back down and pulled my canteen for a drink.

"Almost to your position," Ronon's voice said quietly in my ear. "I can see …." Then he bellowed incoherently, and I could hear him even without the radio. Some birds flew up from maybe sixty-yards to my right, and then nothing but the sound of birdsong and creaking tree trunks filled the air.

"Shit," I muttered as I dropped my canteen and scrambled over the fallen trunk. How in the hell did they get over there? And how in the hell did they manage to take out Ronon? I belly crawled the length of the trunk, and by the time I reached the end I had duff in places I really didn't want to contemplate. I watched from the cover of the tree's exposed root bundle for another few minutes, then got to my feet and hauled ass. I dashed from tree to tree for the next few minutes like a squirrel on crack, and when I took cover again behind another fallen tree I took a moment to catch my breath. I could see a splash of color not too far from me, and keeping low I crept over to investigate.

The splashes of crimson showed up brilliantly against the dark green foliage and stirred up duff. "Shit," I muttered again as I crouched, brought my weapon up, and turned a slow circle. I suddenly caught a hint of brown a few shades lighter than the surrounding bark as it darted through the trees. "There you are, you bastard," I muttered and took off after it.

I was pissed now as I spent the next twenty minutes tracking my enemy through the forest. Damn, they were good. Several times I completely lost track of whoever it was, but eventually I would catch that hint of brown. I didn't care that they seemed to be leading me away from my target. This had become personal - you don't fuck with my team and get away with it.

When I was led into an area of thicker growth and I finally lost all track of movement, I started to wonder if I had bit off more than I could chew. I crept forward, my nerves on edge and every noise making me draw a bead on imagined targets. My finger never left the trigger and I completely ignored the sweat that ran down behind my glasses and off my chin.

Something rattled behind me. I spun and blew the equivalent of a Pegasus Galaxy woodpecker clean off a tree. I imagine its surprise was about as good as mine when I felt the impacts against my chest. The indignant squawks the grounded, crimson splattered woodpecker was making at the moment sounded an awful lot like mocking laughter as I froze and looked down. The three fluorescent hot pink splats were neatly centered in the middle of my chest in a perfect isosceles triangle. Then I looked back up in time to see my enemy crawl out from underneath a fallen tree.

I don't think I ever gave her more than a glance back on Atlantis. She was short, a little chunky, and had a mass of unruly brown curls that fell to her shoulders. She was also wearing well worn knee high boot moccasins with her fatigues, and had the biggest shit eating _smirk_ plastered on her face. Oh yeah, I remember who she was now. "Oh, hell no," I growled and lowered my paintball gun. "Not the archaeologist." Yeah, she came on the last Daedelus run, and the first thing she did was tell Rodney to kiss her ass after one of his tirades. He damn near swallowed his tongue, and Zelenka was about ready to propose.

She laughed evilly, and I had to admit – it was a _nice_ evil laugh. "This is why you should never underestimate a person whose ancestry includes Vikings, Highlanders, and Blackfeet warriors," she said as she walked up to me.

I found myself starting to grin as I shook my head and snorted. "I'll remember that."

She tapped the end of her nose with a finger and pointed at me. Then she keyed her own earpiece. "Head Geek, this is Stealth Geek. Mission accomplished. Head Goon is neutralized. I repeat, Head Goon is neutralized. Goon Base is clear for the picking." Then she winked at me before she started to leisurely walk towards the direction of my base camp.

Oh, man. I only left one guy to guard our flag since I didn't think Rodney's team would have a snowball's chance in hell of ever taking it. I should have know there was something fishy when he challenged me – he had a Stealth Geek up his sleeve. Damn. Ferguson was going to be covered in hot pink from head to toe. "Say, I don't suppose you'd be interested in being on a team?" I called after her back.

The wicked laugh I heard in reply had me chuckling as I started to follow.


End file.
